Daylight
by LadyKnightShade
Summary: After becoming Megamind's lover, Roxanne realizes that that will not be the only difficult decision to be made in her odd relationship with her former kidnapper.  In fact, they are soon faced with a problem that makes relationship issues seem tame.


This fan fic is being written in cooperation by myself and SKSCutie, and is a sequel to the First Night (aka Decisions). The choice to become Megamind's lover is not the only difficult one Roxanne must face in her relationship. Several weeks after her first night with him, a new tough decision has to be made. But everything is not what it seems, and Roxanne soon learns that her unusual romance with her former kidnapper may be the least of her worries.

SKSCutie and I do not own Megamind or any of the associated characters. Neither SKSCutie nor I make any money from our fan fictions.

Roxanne woke with her head pillowed on Megamind's shoulder. She blinked blearily in the bright sunlight filling the room, and stretched delightfully sore muscles. It had been too long since she'd awoken with the wonderful afterglow of good, rough sex echoing through her body.

"Good morning, Beautiful," said a smooth, pleasant voice.

Roxanne smiled up into Megamind's handsome face. "Good morning," she sighed, sliding against him to kiss his mouth. She settled back down on top of him, nuzzling the side his neck and idly sliding one finger up and down his opposite ear. "Mmmmm, I really should get up, but I'm much too comfortable."

"Then don't get up."

"But I really should.'

"The evil overlord forbids it."

She laughed. "You're not an evil overlord any more."

"Well, then the hero forbids it," he grinned down at her, turning to wrap both arms tightly around her. "Stay with me," he added seriously. "It's Saturday. There is no good reason to get up today."

An electronic buzzing suddenly disturbed the quiet. It was quickly joined by a metallic rattling at the window. Roxanne bolted up in bed, giving a little yelp and pulling her coverlet up to her chin as she realized six or seven brain bots were swarming outside the bedroom window. Megamind's reaction was even more animated. He practically tumbled onto the floor, bringing the rumbled sheet with him and wrapping himself frantically in it. He stumbled to the window and, ignoring Roxanne's stuttering protests, threw it open to let the little flying robots in. They massed around him like worried children, bumping him rounded metal bodies and pawing him with long mechanical arms. Roxanne was sure that if they'd had tails, they would have been wagging.

Chucking nervously, Megamind patted them. "Okay, okay, Daddy's here. It's alright. You don't need to worry. This is just Daddy's… ah… private time… So we really shouldn't be bothering Daddy. No we shouldn't." He shook a finger at them to emphasis his words, but that cause the sheet to slip a little, and he snatched it back up into place. "Look, Daddy's not leaving you behind. Daddy just needs to spend some time with Roxie, okay? Daddy loves you, _and_ Roxie, but in very different ways…"

The absurdity of the situation caused Roxanne to cover a giggle. Of all the absurd things she had him do during her semi-professional Damsel-in-Distress career, none were quite as funny as Megamind giving the Daddy Has a Girlfriend speech to a hoard of robotic minions. Her humor was stolen, however, when one of the brain bots left the happily swirling flock to hover in front of an empty section of wall. Moments later, the top minion– or rather Minyon– appeared, his image projected by the brain bot's red camera eye. Roxanne blushed bright scarlet. She knew enough about Megamind's technological creations to know that Minyon could see them just as they could see him.

"Oh, sir! Thank _goodness_ they found you! I was so worried! How could you worry me like that? No phone call? No message? You just stay out all night-"

"Minyon," Megamind interjected. "Please. This isn't the best-"

"Without a single thought of what you might be putting me through-"

"Minyon-"

"And here I am, up all night and half the day, worried sick-"

"MINYON!"

"WHAT? Ah… I mean… What, sir?"

Megamind took a deep breath. "You're right. I'm sorry. I should have called. I just didn't think about it-"

"Didn't… didn't think about it?" Minyon blustered, wide-eyed. "Sir! How could you? After all we've been through! You… You know that my only reason to live is to take care of you, and… and…"

"Minyon! I didn't mean it that way! I…" Another deep breath, and Megamind collected himself. "I got a little caught up in the moment and… things…"

For the first time, Minyon seemed to take note of the scene: the disheveled bed, its blushing female occupant, and the clearly underdressed state of his master. His large, aquatic eyes bulged.

"Sir! You didn't!"

Megamind rolled his eyes. "Yes, as a matter of fact I did."

"Sir!"

"And I plan to do it again!"

"But sir!"

"A lot!"

"SIR!"

"As often as possible!"

Minyon mouthed wordlessly before shaking himself free of shock. "Well, I just hope you're being safe," he quipped in a tone that sounded entirely too motherly.

Oh, dear… thought Roxanne.

Megamind had paused instantly, mouth open to offer a retort that never came.

"Oh, sir," groaned Minyon in despair. "You didn't…"

"I… didn't think… to…"

At least here Roxanne could help. "It's okay, Megamind. Minyon, it's okay. I'm..." she shrugged, fighting not to be embarrassed. "On the pill."

The entire room seemed to sigh with relief.

"Well, thank goodness one of you has some sense," said Minyon. "Sir, I am very disappointed in you."

Megamind was becoming irritated. "Could we discuss this later?" he asked sharply.

"No, we can NOT discuss this later," Miyon replied in his best parental tones. "Sir, you need to be more responsible, or—What are you doing?"

Megamind had walked up behind the hovering brain bot and started fiddling with something on its back. "I understand. More responsible. Now, until I get home, I don't want to hear another word about it!"

"Sir, leave that audio-visual modulator alone!"

"Good bye, Minyon. I'll be home this afternoon," Megamind said dryly. "I'm sorry I worried you."

"Sir, don't you dare turn off that-"

The image went blank.

Megamind heaved a great sigh and idly petted the brain bots. Then he walked to the far side of the room, where some of his clothing had been thrown, and awkwardly held the sheet with one hand while fumbling with his leather pants. He extracted his wallet and turned back to the brain bots.

"Here you are, darlings," he said, holding out a twenty dollar bill. "Take this, go to the bait shop, and buy Uncle Minyon something nice. Some fat, juicy earth worms or maybe some minnows. No, no, no," he admonished as one of them snapped at the money. "Not for chewing. Daddy will bring you a new wrench to play with when he comes home. Now, be good little dears and go get Uncle Minyon something yummy."

The little robots obediently circled him once, by way of a goodbye, and flew out the window. The last one ran into the windowsill, and Megamind sighed, scooped it up, turned back on its electronic eye, and patted it. It sped out the window, chattering irately at its receding fellows. Roxanne could almost imagine a running child shouting for his friends to wait up.

"Well," Megamind said, slumping to the bed. "That certainly woke me up. Maybe it would be simpler if you stayed over at the lair next time." He grinned suddenly, his lightning-quick thoughts leaping to a new subject. "I'm starving! Where's that lasag-na?"

"For breakfast?"

"It's nearly lunchtime now. Besides, it's better than cereal and wine."

Roxanne laughed. "Yeah, I guess it is." She sighed and got up, pretending not to watch Megamind as he dropped the sheet and began hunting for his scattered clothes.

The salad Roxanne had made the night before had wilted, but the lasagna and garlic rolls were wonderful once reheated. They sat on the small balcony outside the glass double doors, enjoying the pleasant, invigorating bite of the late autumn air. Megamind ate veraciously, but then, Roxanne supposed, he had gotten quite a work out the night before.

That thought made Roxanne chuckle.

"And just what do you find so amusing, Miss Ritchie?" he teased in that heart-melting tenor of his.

She looked at him, adorably happy with his favorite food and favorite girl. It took so little to please Megamind sometimes, and his open joy about everything, coupled with his persona as a dark super hero, seemed both oxymoronic and oddly fitting. It was… relaxing and somehow comforting to be around someone who was so content.

"Has anyone ever told you you're cute?" Roxanne asked, dishing out another helping of lasagna to Megamind.

He grinned at her. "Yes, actually. An inmate in Metrocity Prison when I was a toddler. His name was Rip Kendall– or at least that's what people called him. He'd been convicted of murdering his wife and her lover, and he was very possibly the toughest, meanest brut on Cell Block A. But he was always kind to me as a child. Around any one else he was quiet, stern, dangerous… Around me, well, he was the closest thing to a father figure I had. He used to play pattie-cake with me, and carry me around the Yard on his shoulders. No one dared to mock him for it– not even the guards– and if anyone thought less of him for it, they kept it to themselves." His eyes grew distant as a sad memory ghosted behind them. "I'll never forget the day some of the men took me aside and explained that Uncle Rip had gone. He had been given two life sentences by a jury too forward-thinking to give a clearly unbalanced man the death penalty, but Cancer had other ideas. I'd known he was sick– they'd had to take him to the infirmary, and every time I visited him there he seemed so pitifully weak, so unlike himself– but when he went it still seemed so… sudden. I remember thinking how unfair it was that he left without saying goodbye."

Roxanne reached across the table, laying her hand over his, willing him to open his soul and let the old pain drift out like dark mist.

"I remember feeling that way when-" Roxanne caught herself. She'd never actually told anyone else this before. Not even the expensive psychologist her grandparents had taken her to for years. With a deep breath, she continued. "I remember feeling that way when my mom died. I was sixteen, in the midst of my senior year of high school, and someone told me I had to go to the principle's office. I kept thinking and thinking about everything that had happened that week, trying to recall what I'd done wrong, and then I saw Principle Hartwell's face. I saw the school councilor and my granddad with him. And I knew. Somehow I just knew. I started crying before they could even tell me, and I kept asking how. I remember someone saying something about icy roads, and dozing off at the wheel, and how it was no one's fault. I hated that person for saying that. I wanted it to be someone's fault. I wanted to be able to blame someone. I wanted to blame the car company for not making her sedan stronger, or her boss for making her work that stupid midnight shift, or my sperm doner for leaving us so that she'd have to take such terrible hours. But more than anything else, for a long time, I wanted to blame her for not saying goodbye."

Megamind stood up and walked behind her chair to wrap her in a warm embrace. She leaned into his touch, laying her hands on his forearms.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"It's alright. It was a long time ago. I still miss her, but I've moved on and built a life for myself, just like she wanted me to." Roxanne sighed. "It's nice to finally talk about it, though."

She could almost hear his smile. "It's nice to finally have someone to talk about it with."

There were moments in life when Roxanne couldn't help but think about perspective– about how funny it was that one could never clearly see the road to one's destination until that destination had been reached. She'd had felt that way one summer morning, in her office, when she had suddenly realized that she had become one of those sentimental hack reporters she had always hated. She'd felt that way on the windy spring afternoon when she had finally understood that she would never love Metroman. And she felt that way now, standing on Megamind's invisible doorstep, staring at an inexpertly cross-stitched sampler which read: "Lair Sweet Lair." What was he up to?

That afternoon on the balcony, the day after the first time they made love, had been a turning point in Roxanne and Megamind's relationship. She hadn't seen it then, of course, but now that she had arrived at a still-mysterious mile stone in her life, everything slid into focus quickly. After sharing deep, personal sorrows, hidden from all other eyes, an impenetrable glass wall had been removed. Something had begun building between them, unnoticed and unspoken, creating a channel into which two spirits were poured and mingled. It was both elating and terrifying, for Roxie had not been expecting the cozy intensity that she and Megamind had found. How was it possible to feel so relaxed, so at home, around some one that being near him was like snuggling into a familiar, comfortable coat, and yet still feel so powerfully and passionately attached to that same person that he made you antsy, touchy, warm and strangely self-conscious? How was it even possible to feel simultaneously nervous and comfortable around someone?

The oddity of those feelings was disconcerting enough, but worse still was the fact that Roxanne had realized that she no longer loved solitude, because solitude meant Megamind wasn't around. She had always distained those couples that seemed to be attached at the hip– the ones who attended every party together and never went anywhere if one of the two couldn't make it– now it seemed she was becoming half of one. Worst of all, she didn't mind. She liked it. She was sublimely happy with it.

What was wrong with her?

Roxanne had given up on long-term relationships before she started dating Megamind, having decided that there were simply no men willing to balance reverent love with unfettered independence. In all of her past relationships, her partners had either been too detatched– like the one who was glad to give her needed professional space, but refused to do "silly and sentimental" things like surprise her with flowers– or too conservative– like the one who had thought she would be thrilled to hear him say he would _allow_ her to continue her profession, as if she needed any one's permission. Worn out by emotional failures, Roxanne had dove into her work, finally deciding that, clearly, professionalism and love didn't blend well.

And then along came Megamind– charming, intelligent, romantic, foolishly sentimental and bravely independent. Yellow daisies arrived at her office every other Thursday, just like clock work, and Roxanne didn't even mind that the secretaries got all girlish and giggly about it. Controversy, however, if she had to break a date with Megamind because of an overdue deadline, he never complained, or asked if her job was more important than their relationship. He just said he would be catching up on work in the lair if she had time to drop by on the way home, and would send a packed dinner, deliciously prepared by Minyon and delivered via brainbot, with a note that said something like: "You won't forget to eat, will you? Love, MM." In similar fashion, Roxanne had gotten into the habit of cooking for him once or twice a month, or stopping by his lab on Saturday mornings with three lattes and a box of doughnuts to share. (He and Minyon both had an addiction to coffee and doughnuts that was simultaneously adorable and a little disturbing.) Once she had even brought a package of tennis balls for the brain bots to play with. Such small expressions of love came naturally– it wasn't that she felt the need to pay him back for his own benevolence, but rather that she just found herself wanting to make him smile.

After so many dead ends, and after years of dejected resolution, Roxanne had somehow managed to stumble upon the proverbial Mr. Right. Her romance with Megamind seemed almost too good to be true. He was neither too concerned about impressing her, nor too blasé about wooing her. They had fallen into the same easy rhythm as a deep, comfortable friendship, yet had retained all the fire and ardor of a new infatuation. A traitorous little voice in her head asked if this was the way people felt before they got married, moved to the suburbs, gained twenty pounds, had kids and started driving maroon minivans. She refused to listen, refused to even consider the possibility of leaving chic professionalism for matrimonial doom, but that same little voice reminded her that it wouldn't be so bad as long and it was with Megamind. Despite all her denial, Roxanne had to admit that something new had grown between herself and her favorite hero, inching up, bit by bit, like a sturdy sapling, until suddenly she noticed the presence of a mighty tree. Small kindnesses, shared moments, camaraderie and passion had all built into something new, strange, and a little scary.

Which it what brought her to tonight, and to her current situation, as she stood shivering in the December evening, looking at that foolish sampler and wondering why the sight of it bothered her so much. Megamind had invited her over, told her he had a Christmas gift that couldn't wait for Christmas, and she had not considered the oddity of the date until this moment.

Why now? Why tonight?

It was December 12th. Exactly eighteen years ago Margaret Ritchie, Roxanne's mother, had taken a turn too quickly, swerved on the icy pavement of West Henderson and 11th Street, and ended her life.

That was it. Roxie's eyes widened with realization that should have been obvious. That was why this troubled her. Today was an significant date to Roxanne, so she expected something significant to occur. She was probably not far off. It was unlike Megamind to ask her over in the middle of the week, which indicated that he had probably researched the event and knew the significance of the day. That seemed like something he would do– invite her over to cheer her up on the anniversary of her mother's death.

The question was, was he just planning on distracting her from her memories, or did he have something more serious planned?

"Miss Ritchie," Minyon appeared through the seemingly solid wall, less than two feet away from Roxanne. She had to crane her neck up to look into the fishy face set atop his seven-foot robotic body. "Miss Ritchie, if you please, could you come inside? He's been watching you on the monitor for ten minutes and he's beginning to get worried."

"Oh, I… Of course. I'm sorry Minyon. I just-"

It was always odd watching a fish smile. "No apologies needed. Just come inside before you freeze to death."

He ushered her through with the wave of a metallic arm, and Roxanne stopped so suddenly that he nearly crashed into her as he followed her through the illusionary brick.

"Oh, my…"

Garlands. The secret lair was strung with garlands of faux evergreen twigs, plastic holly, and red and gold ribbons. Multiple strings of colored lights, hung with no apparent order or plan in mind, blinked, chased and sparkled in crisscrossing lines. In the middle of the yuletide chaos stood a massive Christmas tree, its top leaning precariously against the ceiling. Brain bots hovered and buzzed around it, trimming it in a haphazard fashion that Roxanne suspected explained the random order of the rest of the decorations. Most of the items being hung on the tree were normal– glass balls, silvery snowflakes, diminutive, jolly Santas– but every now and again a brain bot added a random bit of wire or a large metal nut. Christmas carols were blaring from the nearby stereo.

"Roxanne! What do you think?" Megamind's happy voice startled her from her contemplations. His face was glowing with good cheer, one arm swept out proudly to indicate the scene. Roxanne turned her eyes back to the seasonal décor and the happily buzzing robots. After the initial shock, it really wasn't so bad. In fact, it was rather cute, like the messy decorations of enthusiastic children.

"It's wonderful," she answered, turning back to her lover with a genuine smile.

He beamed at her. "I'm so glad you like it! And look," he added warmly. "We've got rocket-toe!"

"Mistletoe, silly," Roxanne smiled, leaning up to give him a soft kiss.

"Potato, tomato, potato, cucumber," he answered with a wry grin. Roxanne laughed, and Megamind joined her before saying: "Wait 'til you see the rest of it! Come on! Come see the dinning room!"

"Dinning… But you don't have a-"

"We do now! Come on!"

He took her from room to room, furthering her surprise with every step. The conference room near the kitchen– which had never seemed to serve much of a purpose since any meetings Megamind had involved only himself, Minyon, and, during the last several month Roxanne– had, indeed, been transformed into a cozy dinning room. Another garland swagged across the doorway and the table, set as if in expectation of a festive meal, displayed a centerpiece of holly and ribbons surrounding three crème-colored candles. Beside the industrial stairs leading to the second floor, a bathroom that looked as if it belonged in a wealthy grandma's house had been built onto one corner. A part of the cavernous workroom had been enclosed and turned into a little sitting room, proudly centering around an old-fashioned pot-bellied stove– which Roxanne was almost certain was against fire codes. Roxanne was shocked to see several windows, each decked in garland, until she realized that they were actually huge LCD monitors, set to display whatever was outside and secured behind framed panes of glass.

"Isn't it great?" Megamind said, enthused. "And, look, if you don't like what's outside, you can have a change of scenery!" He showed her a small, cleverly hidden button on the side of the window pane, and clicked it a couple of times. Instantly, the lair appeared to be looking out onto a forested mountain range, a quaint French village, and a tropical reef.

"Minyon picked out the last one," Megamind explained.

"Wow… this is all just… wow…" Roxanne managed. "I mean, you've really turned this place into a home."

"I'm glad to hear you say that." There was something warm in his voice that both thrilled and frightened her. "Let me show you what we've done upstairs."

Upstairs was where Minyon and Megamind slept, and Roxanne had been there several times, though she was admittedly usually too preoccupied to notice the décor. Megamind's room had changed from a slightly Gothic bachelor pad to stylish bedchamber. It was still dark, still very true to Megamind's tastes, but the ebony furniture, blue, black and purple bed clothes, antique mirror and chic framed painting looked like it belonged on the cover of Bad Boys Weekly. All it needed to complete the picture was its sexy male occupant. The thought made Roxanne shiver with delight.

Minyon's room was shades of green, and had a slightly Oriental feel to it. Its style was very different from Megamind's Victorian Goth bedroom. Full of clean lines and curved edges, it looked like it belonged in a modern interior design catalog.

"He picked everything out himself," Megamind was saying. "You should have seen him. He was so happy, so adorable. When I told him I wouldn't invade his privacy by showing you his room, he was absolutely incensed. He insisted that you absolutely had to see it. He's so proud of it. I should have let him redecorate years ago."

Roxanne smiled into his emerald eyes, unable to resist leaning up to give him a long, deep kiss. She finally pulled away and said:

"Before you take me back to your new bedroom, tell me: what's that other door between your room and Minyon's room?"

"That… Uhm… Well…" He smiled sheepishly. "That's my Christmas present to you. Come have a look."

Things had been changed so completely that it took Roxanne a moment to recognize the round room. All of the equipment had been moved out, the domed walls and ceiling had been expertly plastered and painted, and, in fact, the only thing Roxanne really recognized was the mechanical door that now slide open to reveal a private balcony overlooking the sea, Cloudpeak Mountain, and the old observatory. It was… perfect. It was so very Roxanne. Her own style– too formal to be modern but too clean to be antique– her favorite colors. There were several empty spaces where she was clearly intended to move in her things. She knew she should have been thrilled– all the work, care and expense he'd put into this would be enough to make one of those silly intern secretaries goofy with joy– but this was too much too fast.

"Wow, Megamind," she tried not to sound unhappy. His feelings could be so easily crushed, though he tried to hide it. "This is…" she decided to be gently honest. "This is exactly the way I would have decorated it myself."

"Really?"

"It's perfect, and I would love to come and live her someday, but…"

She looked at him. He looked miserable.

"But?" he urged quietly.

She sighed. "Megamind, I'm not sure if I'm ready for this yet. I mean, this is just one step away from being married. I love you. I do, but I've never lived with someone before, and I just don't know if this is the right time for me. I want to live with you," she added, seeing his unhappy face. "I just need a little more time."

"Please, Roxanne. Please stay here with me. It doesn't have to be like we're living together. You have a separate bedroom, and if you need time to yourself, I'll give it to you. We share a bathroom–" he indicated the door on the right side of the room– "but I can use the one downstairs if you need me to."

"Megamind, it's not-"

"I promise I'll be the best roommate you've ever had."

"Megamind, please-"

"I'll never invade your privacy without your permission." He dropped his voice to a sultry purr. "And when I do invade it, I'll invade it very, very well."

"That isn't what-"

"Please, I've never asked you to do anything before. Please, please stay with me. I love you. I want you near."

"Damn it, Megamind, that's so unfair!" Hot tears stung Roxanne's cheeks. "I… I can't. Not yet. I'm not ready. And it's really damned unfair for you to pull that never-asked-for-anything card and try to force-"

That hit a nerve. "I am not pulling a card, Roxie. I'm being very, very honest."

"I didn't mean… I just can't…"

"I'm offering you everything. I am offering to bring you into my lair, where no one except Minyon and I have ever been allowed to stay before. I'm offering you all my secrets, all me feelings, everything. I'm pulling out my heart and giving it to you. Don't pay me back by crushing it!"

There was silence for a moment. Roxanne fought not to cry.

"I'm sorry," Megamind said at last. "That last… It isn't fair for me to guilt trip you into this. I'm sorry. I just really need you to stay here."

"It's okay, Sweetheart. I don't mean to horrible, but I'm really just not ready yet."

He sighed. "I know. But I need you to stay." He fished into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. "I didn't want to bring this up until I could gather some more information. I didn't want to worry you if it turned out to be an idle threat." He handed over a printed letter, apparently typed on a type writer rather than a computer.

"M.M.,

I have recently undertaken a business proposition in Metro City, which I understand is under your protection. In general, I applaud your selflessness and success in both defending the common populace and stamping out petty crime. I wish you to understand, therefore, that my operations do not fall into the category of the second, and are not intended to undermine the first. I will not, however, insult your intellect or my honor by lying to you, and I disclose freely that my actions will be viewed, by strictest interpretation of the law, as criminal. Out of respect for your work and a subsequent desire to find a mutually beneficial compromise, I am sending this correspondence for two purposes. Firstly, I wish to assure you that it is my intention to complete my business quickly, discreetly, and with the smallest possible loss of life, and, secondly, I wish to cordially advise you not to attempt to dissuade me. I do not desire harm to come to you, or any dear to you, but I am a man of business and must protect my interests. Please allow me to complete my task without interference, and you will hardly notice my passing. However, if I am troubled by yourself or any one connected with you, you will pay a dire price.

I would take no joy in harming a lovely young lady like Miss Ritchie, but accidents do happen, especially to those who oppose me.

Yours in Good Faith,

A.E."

Roxanne's mind reeled. To think that when she'd first arrived, she'd bee worried about silly things like whether Megamind wanted to become too serious!

"There was a photograph of you enclosed with the letter," he said quietly, as if lowering the tone of his words would somehow lessen their impact. "You were standing just inside the glass doors to your balcony, talking on the telephone. Roxanne, he knows where you live. I have to try to stop him. You know that. I'm the hero now. I can't just turn a blind eye to this. But he knows where you live." Megamind sighed. "I love you, and I want to protect you, so I really, really need you to stay here."

"What if he's not serious? What if he's all talk? You grew up in prison. Your better at analyzing criminal minds that any psychiatrist I've ever heard of. I mean, I've seen you figure bank robbers and drug dealers out so fast it's almost like mind-reading. What do you think about…" Roxanne trailed off as she studied Megamind's face. It was closed, secretive, yet extremely concerned. There was something he hadn't shared yet.

"Yes, I grew up in prison. That's why… There was one man, someone nobody really knew. Someone everyone feared even more than they did Uncle Rip. I never heard him use any surname, but his first name was– well, he claimed it was Ares."

"Ares? Like the god of war?"

"Yes. He was… strange. He took a bit of a liking to me when I was a boy, and used to talk to me when he wasn't locked in solitary confinement. At first I thought he was cool– smooth, well-spoken, genteel, brilliant, and very, very tough– but as I grew older I learned that some things about him were just… off. Most people, even in prison, have limits to what they will do and lines they won't cross, but Ares… He had no lines. No limits. He would be a nice man until someone did something he didn't like, and then he could be horribly violent and unspeakably cruel. And it never bothered him. He always seemed to feel the other person had brought it on themselves."

Roxanne was starting to feel a little sick. "I remember the name Ares now. He escaped Metro City Prison for the Criminally Insane while I was still in grade school. No one had ever done it before. People were panicking. Some parents wouldn't let their kids go to school for several days." She swallowed hard. "Do you… Do you really think this is him?"

"When I first read the letter, he jumped into my mind. The wording… It sounds like him."

Suddenly throwing her arms around Megamind, Roxanne held him close. Like a child awaked from a bad dream, she buried herself in him, hid her face against his chest. She needed the comfort of his touch, needed to be protected by his embrace from the nightmarish thoughts that threatened to invade her head, needed to wordlessly apologize for her previous anger.

The moment of weakness passed, and Roxanne gathered herself, gluing pieces of broken confidence back together with spunky determination and brave humor.

"You know, you could have told me this sooner and saved us the trouble of arguing," she jibed, her crooked smile appearing beneath tear-stained eyes.

His answering grin was weak, but it grew as he spoke. "But you look so sexy when you're angry."

That startled a laugh from Roxanne. "Yeah, because, you know, that's one I've never heard before." Sighing, she looked back at her new bedroom. "Thank you for everything you've done, Megamind. If it's okay, I'll enlist the brain bots' help in moving my things out tomorrow."

"I'm sure they'd be glad to give you a hand."

They were silent for a moment.

"So," Roxanne said at last in a tone that was a little too relaxed, a little too cheerful. "You managed to get all of this pulled together since you received that letter? How long ago was it?"

"I got it last Thursday," Megamind answered distractedly, fiddling with the hem of his cape. "You'd be surprised what you can get done with a large budget and a nearly inexhaustible supply of tireless laborers." He paused again. "Roxanne, are you angry at me? For not telling you sooner, I mean?" he asked, finally meeting his gaze. "I know you always hated it when Metro Man treated you like a helpless victim, and I want you to know that isn't why I didn't tell you. I just wanted the brain bots to do a little information gathering first. I didn't want to scare you and then find out it was nothing."

Drawing close to him, she cupped his cheek and looked sincerely into his face. "No. I'm not angry. Not any more, now that I understand."

He smiled at her, laying his hand over hers. "I'm glad."

"Cookies and cocoa!" Minyon's voice rang up the stairs. "Come and get it while it's hot—No no no! That's for Roxie and Daddy! Those are not toys! Drop it _right now_!"

Megamind and Roxanne looked at each other and chuckled. "I suppose we'd better get down stairs while there's still food to be had," said Megamind. "You don't mind, do you, Roxanne? It's just that– well, you know– Minyon has planned out this entire evening, and I wouldn't want to disappoint…" he trailed off as Roxanne gave him his favorite wry you-can't-fool-me look.

"Thank you and Minyon both for planning tonight. Of course I want to come be a part of it." She sighed, looking down one more time at the disturbing letter. "Let's just take a step back. We can deal with this tomorrow. Besides," she brightened. "I wouldn't miss Minyon's home baking for anything."

Megamind laughed again and gently took her hand. "Be sure to tell him that. It will make his day. Now, Miss Ritchie," he purred in that tone that always melted her down to her toes. "If you'll come with me, please, I fully intend to spend the next several hours cuddling by the stove, if only I could find a pretty, kind, intelligent, charming girl to cuddle with."

A small, very grown up and professional part of Roxanne hated that Megamind always knew how to make her blush. The rest of her, however, adored it. "I think I can oblige," she answered. He returned her smile and led her downstairs.


End file.
